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Many IBM i-based systems have been successfully performing their business function for decades. Even though the Power i platform has a stable future through at least 2032, IT leaders sometimes assume that antiquation has come with age for this 30+-year-old product family. 

In our experience, this assumption is false. IBM i is not only a stable option that can continue performing well in support of business-critical systems but an inherently flexible system that can be readily integrated with a variety of new capabilities.

We often hear about the long term future of the Power i server as a source of worry for our clients. 

Businesses that rely on this platform should know that its long term future is officially secure: Power i and IBM i will continue to be supported by IBM for at least another decade (as we optimistically surmised back in 2016).

Businesses value the Power i running IBM i for its exceptional stability. From the hardware itself, to database-level architecture, the Power i offers a legendarily reliable platform. That’s precisely why so many organizations utilize it to run business-critical applications.

We have even heard an urban legend about a company that mistakenly plaster-walled off their Power i server during a construction project; they didn’t realize the mistake because the system continued performing flawlessly without much attention for years. But if this legend is true, they were very fortunate!

Field Level Security in IBMi allows you to protect data in legacy applications without creating risks to application stability: this feature is implemented so that restricting data access doesn’t require extensive re-development which may create new errors in complex application logic. 

These precise protections offer an important opportunity to secure sensitive data in legacy applications quickly and painlessly without modifying the application layer.

The IBM i platform has been a stalwart for many organizations over the past 30 years. Few platforms have comparable longevity and stability. But with that stability, comes the eventual retirement of employees who have been hands-on with the platform for decades.

Aside from the emotional impact of losing core, long-term employees, many companies also fear losing the copious skills developed while navigating the IBM i platform and the mission-critical enterprise applications on it over such a long period of time. In many cases, these long-term employees are the sole repository of intricate software program knowledge, including the mountain of software modifications made over the course of decades. A great deal of intellectual property is stored between the ears of these employees.

All is not lost!

Hire New IT Staff, Leverage Your Team, Or Supplement with 3rd Party Tools?

In our last blog post, we focused on preserving your investment in your IBM i legacy system by integrating newer applications that address your organization's need for more mobility. But to meet mobility goals for the future, IT leaders have more on their minds than their system alone. In this blog, we’ll address key considerations for preserving another significant investment; that is, your IT staff.

 

Guest blog by John Hamel, Principal, TurningPoint Systems

Prolonged downtime is every manufacturing firm’s nightmare. Even companies running the highly-reliable IBM i OS recognize they need some sort of disaster recovery plan in place to protect their business from major disruptions. 

This article has been updated after original publication in 2016.

It’s been close to three decades since IBM launched the AS/400, and in the technology industry, that may just feel like an eternity. But for people wondering about the marketplace for the AS/400’s progenies (Power i and IBM i) — and where things are headed in the future — there’s good news: there are plenty of signs that serve as reminders that IBM ensures this platform truly is built to last, and here to stay.  

After a recent announcement, the word is slowly rippling through the IBM user community: IBM will be discontinuing support for IBM i 7.1 on April 30, 2018.  

If disaster strikes, how quickly can your business get up and running again? IBM Power Systems running the IBM i operating system (OS) have a solid reputation for uptime of nearly 100 percent. While this is good news for many organizations running the IBM i OS, it can also be dangerous when it leads to complacency. Having the right disaster recovery plan — one that ensures your mission-critical applications are available, no matter what — is as critical as your applications themselves. That may be why High Availability (HA) solutions are growing in popularity. Here, we’ll take a quick look what recent trends tell us about HA solutions —  and what they add to your disaster recovery plan that you may not already have.